Deiter Senior CLASS Award Candidate

Aug 21, 2013

Senior co-captain of the Central Connecticut women's soccer team, Nikola Deiter, was selected Wednesday as a candidate for the 2013 Senior CLASS Award, an honor that recognizes student-athletes who excel both on and off the field. Deiter was among only 30 female student-athletes in the country to be recognized as a candidate.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition.

Deiter has enjoyed a successful and decorated career with the Blue Devils. In her three seasons at CCSU, she has started in all 53 matches in which she has played, accumulating just over 4,921 minutes between the posts. She has registered a total of 260 saves, 13 shutouts and was named Northeast Conference Goalkeeper of the Year and All-NEC First Team in 2012.

Throughout her career, Deiter has also accumulated NEC Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors. This summer, Deiter was also named All-East Goalkeeper of the Year as a member of the Women's Premier Soccer League's (WPSL) New England Mutiny. She led the team defensively to its sixth appearance at the WPSL National Championship in 11 years.

In addition to her impressive performance on the field, the exercise science major manages to excel in the classroom and in the community as she participates with her squad in several community service projects including reaching out to local elementary schools where the team reads to children and assists teachers with various tasks. Deiter also takes advantage of other opportunities to benefit the community on her own time, joining others in helping young children play soccer.

"Niki is a terrific leader for our team and a great role model for our younger players," Head Coach Mick D'Arcy said. "She has worked extremely hard, overcome numerous injuries and made countless sacrifices to achieve her goals in the classroom and on the field."

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Of the 60 male and female candidates, each 30 candidate class will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male and one female candidate who best exemplify excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.